The Bother
by Mr. Robinson
Summary: April Fool's day is usually a day of terror and destruction for the inhabitants of Elmore High. At least Larry got a peaceful day.
1. The Clues

**Author's note:** What's up, everybody. Hope you're enjoying a great week or whatever.

I dislike reading large papers on my computer screen, and I'm sure some of you do, too. If you would rather print out this document, just give me a message. I'll send this story through PM so you can copy-paste.

* * *

Ms. Simian was not terribly amused when she found a "kick me" sign firmly planted on her back in the beginning of class.

"Who did this?" she spat, her face growing into something that looked like a red pumpkin. She scanned the room.

Everyone shifted their eyes away from her except Gumball and Darwin. Kinda telling, huh?

Anyway, Darwin was just smiling and looking straight ahead.

"Darwin!" Ms. Simian snarled. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because I love your beautiful face," Darwin replied, with the grace and sincerity only a mutated fish could provide.

"Oh... Okay..." Ms. Simian muttered a few choice words out of her nose. But her hatred still burned with passion as she looked back to the rest of the class.

"Gumball!" Ms. Simians' hands slammed down on the said cat's desk.

And Gumball woke up. His instincts told him to yawn. Should he yawn? Well, he wasn't planning on making it a large yawn, but he couldn't really help it. And this wouldn't have annoyed Ms. Simian so much if her face wasn't the target of Gumball's yawnage.

"Just five more minutes, mom," he grunted, pushing down on Simian's nose.

Now a lot of things can apply positive pressure to one's nose. Gravity, for instance, is a very nice resource that makes sure my nose doesn't just fly up in the sky. The problem is that when a nose gets pushed in a new, creative process (especially at school, where the creative process is always encouraged), the receiver might be surprised, which will encourage him or her to jump forward and smash through a bunch of desks.

And Ms. Simian was not a fan of surprises. At least, as far as I know.

Anyway, Ms. Simian landed on her back surrounded by toppled desks.

Most of the students gasped at this whole train of events. I say most, because some kids in the back of class were just playing video games, and they were delighted that Ms. Simian would be even less concerned about them and their punishments. Oh, and Darwin still smiled ahead. Gumball gasped a little, but that was probably from a dream he was having. He just rolled over to get into a more comfortable sleeping spot.

Which would have probably been okay if his desk hadn't toppled far away to the left. Without his desk to rely on, Gumball tumbled right on top of Ms. Simian!

Now Ms. Simian was never considered to be "calm" or "decent", but she was taking this rather well. She wasn't very mad about the desks being smashed everywhere during class time because she usually did that herself. She even didn't terribly mind her nose being pushed, although she would have preferred Nigel pushing her nose. And all things considered, she might have even forgiven Gumball for landing on her, asleep. Why, he still is asleep!

But what she couldn't forgive was that note- that little "kick me" note someone had stuck onto her nose! And look- There's one on Gumball's paw!

So it wasn't much of a surprise to Ms. Simian when she flipped over Gumball's desk and found three hundred more "kick me" notes.

Oh.

* * *

"But Ms. Simian! I didn't do whatever!" Gumball pleaded, trying to dump all the notes he found into the trash can.

The teacher just rolled her eyes. All the other students skipped and frolicked out towards the playground, while Gumball sat in his chair.

Ms. Simian marked a piece of paper with a red pen.

"Look!" Gumball cried (for recess was a very important part of life, back then), "I never carry my notebooks to class. You need notebooks to make notes, right?"

"Gumball, the messages weren't on paper. They were written on banana peels with black markers."

"Oh," Gumball said. For some reason, he never noticed that. He was never too observant.

But now he was framed, he was a culprit for something he never did, and now he was grounded from recess until college. Wait, do they even have recess in college? Gumball couldn't handle it anymore! He was going to jump out the window when-

The door swung open.

"Ms. Simian,... I just... um... want... to ask for your... apol-"

Hey, it's Banana Joe!

"Hi, Banana Joe!" Gumball waved to his friend. "Say... have you lost weight?"

And indeed, Banana Joe did seem to be a little skinnier and a bit more pale that he usually was. It was almost as if he shed something. Or maybe it was just the lighting of classroom.

"Um, yeah..." Joe replied. "I've been... ... ..."

For a few moments, Gumball and Ms. Simian sat in silence while Joe continued to spout out a few periods now and then.

"...having a great day!" the fruit finally finished, running out of the classroom as fast as a banana can run out of a classroom.

The baboon and the cat both thought that the banana's somewhat random appearance was well... a little odd, but both quickly went back to what they were doing. Gumball looked out the window, and wondered how much fun he was missing. Ms. Simian continued marking up papers with red pens.

"The only way I can get out of detention is by putting the blame on another person," Gumball said to himself.

Instantly, Gumball realized how revolutionary his revelation was. He stood up on his chair and cheered.

"Now all I need to do is find somebody to blame! Somebody real suspicious!"

* * *

For the rest of the day, Gumball spied on Teri. Seeing if she would photocopy herself or something of the sort. But then he remembered that the messages were written on banana peels, and Teri doesn't have much to do with bananas. So that was kinda a bust.

And on the bus ride home, Gumball told Darwin all his plans.

"...so I just gotta find someone who looks suspicious. You know, someone who has a lot of banana peels."

"I see," Darwin replied, finishing the banana he was eating, and dropping the peel into a backpack.

"Say, Gumball, isn't Ms. Simian a baboon? She might have framed you."

"Framed me? Why would she do that?"

* * *

"Because it's April Fool's day, genius," Anais replied when Gumball was in her room.

The rabbit took a chart. "Now we need to create suspects so that we can eliminate them. Who has access to a large number of bananas?"

"I suppose everyone at school- if they sell bananas at the cafeteria," Gumball said.

"Okay..." Anais checked a few checkers off of her chart.

"Were the banana peels ripe or green?"

"I think they were red."

Anais used her marker to marked off several markings.

"And you said there were a lot of them?"

"Yeah," Gumball remarked.

"I'm guessing that someone must have bought them in bulk when they were fairly green. We could ask the school cafeteria but they probably don't keep records. The criminal should have a decent amount of money to purchase all these bananas, decent handwriting to write so neatly, and good reflexes to be able to put three hundred notes inside your desk without getting caught, like you said. Oh, or he could have shoplifted the bananas, but that's not likely since the cafeteria is decently occupied when it's open, and it's locked when it isn't. We can exclude the cafeteria workers for now because they're not part of your class. Of course, one of your classmates could have volunteered for the cafeteria, but that's not likely."

Anais crumpled up her chart.

"In conclusion, the criminal is-"

Gumball woke up.

"Oh, come on!" Anais shouted. "Didn't you hear a word I said?"

"Yeah, yeah, something about a cafeteria. Who's the culprit?"

Anais thought about it for a few minutes.

"No clue. But it might be Tobius."

"Tobius? Of course!" Gumball raised a paw in the air to signify this important discovery. Then he put it down cuz his arm got tired.

"Thank you for your help, Anais, but it looks like detective Gumball has solved the CAAAAAA-"

Gumball started screaming because he slipped on a banana peel in Anais's room. Now, the room is like one hundred percent carpet, and tripping on a banana peel in a carpeted room is worse for the carpet than it is for a foot. One can just plant himself down with his other foot and stablize himself. Gumball did not have this luxury, because every time he tried to plant a paw on the surface, he always ended up tripping on another banana peel! Someone had created a trail of banana peels for Gumball! It was like someone had strategically placed a peel in the exact location they knew Gumball would step! Like someone had measured Gumball's exact foot-size and usual walking-pace!

"April Fool's, Gumball!" Anais sang as she watched Gumball tumble down the stairs and outside the house.

This trail of banana peels would have ran Gumball several times around the house and playfully landed Gumball into Darwin's newly created compost pile.

Of course, I say "would have" because at about the third time around, Gumball smashed right into Tobius on the sidewalk.

"Oof!" Tobius grunted. "Watch where you're going, Gumball. You could have really-"

Tobius was going to say "hurt yourself", but it seemed that Gumball had it covered.

Or rather, the puddle that looked like Gumball's face had it covered.

"Tobius! I found you, criminal!" the puddle spewed, picking itself back up and turning into Gumball.

It probably would have been best for Gumball to remain a puddle. Slipping on banana peels around a house will make one dizzy if nothing else. Gumball fell down infront of Tobius again.

And then Gumball died.

LOL JK!

But seriously, Gumball did have a killer headache. No one could fathom the pain Gumball possessed.

LOL JK Carrie could.

* * *

Anyway, when Gumball woke up, he was back in Anais's room with Tobius.

Upon first sight, Gumball exclaimed, "Tobius! You traitor!"

"Wait just a minute, Gumball!" Anais quickly replied. She needed to be quick about situations like this, because it is so easy to start a fight and hold a grudge for ten generations, which is probably what Gumball and Tobius would have done.

"Tobius gave me a reasonable alibi. Now, let's get back to the charts."

"Oh, phooey with the charts. What did Tobius say?"

"Guys, guys!" Tobius said.

"What?" Gumball shouted.

Tobius stopped and recollected his thoughts.

"...Actually, I forgot what I was going to say."

Anais coughed rather loudly at that, and tried to bring the conversation around.

"Look, Tobius couldn't have done it because he was at the dentist that day-"

"Oh wait!" Tobius interrupted. "I just remembered what I was going to say. I couldn't have put a banana peel everywhere because I was at the dentist. Oh wait... you just said that, didn't you?"

Gumball threw up his arms. "This is ridiculous! How will we ever find the culprit?"

"I think I know how," Anais said, her eyes growing bigger.

"The culprit won't stop now. He knows it's time to attack. There are probably going to be more banana peels later. Just keep your eyes open."

Gumball left the room quietly and concentrated. Mostly to avoid slipping on more banana peels.

And as Tobius followed, shutting the door behind himself, Anais' grin grew and grew.

* * *

Gumball stayed up fairly late in the night thinking of who could frame him.

Already a bit uncomfortable, he started tossing and turning in his sheets.

Could it have been Carrie? Well, Gumball didn't even see Carrie yesterday at school. She is kinda transparent.

And what about Tobius? How do I know he went to the dentist?

He rolled in his bed a few times, trying to get into a comfortable position. Anyway, all this thinking just made Gumball's brain less and less functional. So it was no surprise to me when he got a few bad dreams that night. A few dreams where he was force-fed braces.

Don't ask me, this was Gumball nightmare.

So when Gumball woke up, he wasn't very tired from staying up a bit later, as nightmares usually wake people up better than coffee does. But he did brush his teeth more than his usual amount.

"Dude. What's wrong?" Darwin asked as they were eating breakfast.

"Nothing. Why?"

"Oh, just that you're brushing your teeth while you're eating. Kinda gross."

Gumball looked down at what he was consuming. It looked like yellow guts with blue mold.

In truth, this was just a weird combination of egg and toothpaste, but even so, it would have probably been best for Gumball to spit something out.

Which is just what he did. All over the table.

"AUGH!" the duo cried.

"We got to clean this up before the school bus comes or mom will flip!" Gumball said, but since he was still brushing his teeth, it came out more like "Weklaejrkah;ewt ty pe5u ympaoithjyo".

"What?" Darwin asked, getting a sponge.

"I said, doiGT IARTIOAJRGKAFJG."

That's when the school bus came. Anais skipped down the stairs as Gumball and Darwin finished removing the last of the stains.

"Aw, man!" Darwin yelled. "Now we're going to be late for class!"

"Noehtwkarthk-"

Gumball spit out his toothbrush.

"No- I got a plan. We're gonna drive!"

"Really?"

"Nah, but we can jog."

* * *

About thirty minutes later, Gumball and Darwin rolled into class, soaking wet.

"Aw man!" Gumball gasped, panting for breath.

"We must have gone at least a quarter of a mile!"

"Maybe... AUG... even... half!" Darwin glubbed, dripping with sweat. Do fish sweat? I don't know. He was doing something.

"That's four years of detention, Gumball," Ms. Simian said without looking up.

"Aw, come on, Ms. Simian. What did I do now?"

The baboon turned around to reveal another large "kick me" planted right on her back.

This was Gumball's worst nightmare. Wait- no, his worst nightmare was the braces. This was Darwin's worst nightmare.

Anyway, all the other student's turned around, one by one, to find that they each had similar "kick me" signs on their backs.

"Dude, you even put one on my back," Darwin cried as he slowly turned around. He couldn't quite reach it, so Gumball had to get it and through it into the trash can.

"No, I didn't!" Gumball argued. "And Ms. Simian, why are you accusing me?"

"Because you don't have any notes on your back."

And indeed, Gumball had been cleverly framed, although maybe not terribly subtly. Whoever did it went into a bit of overkill by putting fourteen notes on Tobius's back.

"Aw- Who keeps doing thi- WAIT-" Gumball said. "These notes are paper- not banana peels, and that's another clue!"

So Gumball sat down at his desk, smiling.


	2. The Solution

And that's when Gumball remembered to keep his eyes open.

Usually whenever Ms. Simian went into a speech, Gumball would just close his eyes and relax. Maybe push his chair a bit back so it was like he was reclining. Just not too far back. But this time, Gumball knew that his recess privileges were banned.

He would have to work fast- find out as many clues as he could before 12:00. It was around 8:30 when Gumball had last looked at the clock. That was maybe five minutes ago.

So Gumball had... like only seven hours to find out who the culprit was! No wait, it couldn't have been seven. Six? No. Five? No. Four? Wait... 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Is that four and a half?

Whatever! Gumball needed to get back to thinking about the note-maker. Whoever did it need a heavy supply of both bananas and notes. And evilness, about as much as Ms. Simian.

That was the problem with the case. It was so hard to justify a suspect. Or even find a good suspect to blame. Terri might have done it, but there were no banana stains on her paper dress.

Wait- what do banana stains look like? Gumball wished he had brought along his notebooks. Then he could have written these things down. And he wanted to see what a banana stain looked like.

* * *

"Alright, class," Ms. Simian growled, holding up sheets of paper. "This is a test which will decide whether you have the mental capacity to graduate from seventh grade or be forced to work in sewage waste plantations all your lives. You have five minutes."

Gumball did not hear a word Ms. Simian said. So when he saw the test, he thought to himself just how awesome Ms. Simian was for providing him with a pen and a pencil. He wrote down all the clues he could remember.

1. The bananas were red, not yellow.

2. It was bananas the first day, papers the second.

3. The person directly behind me is Banana Joe.

4. The-

"Time's up!" Ms. Simian spat again, ripping the paper out of Gumball's paw.

She looked at it for a while, surprised to find that Gumball did actually get a few right.

"Well... done... Gumball, you got three out of four questions correct. You graduate with a 'C'. That means that I'm legally obligated to pass you on to eighth grade...

Of course, since your intelligence quotient is reset every eleven minutes, I'll have to test you during each duration to make sure the graduation is legitimate."

And she tossed the paper in a shredder.

"Now, as for the rest of class..."

Gumball, who still wasn't listening, stood up on his chair. "I think I just solved the case!" he announced.

The class was pretty startled, but not terribly considering that Gumball stood up on chair occasionally.

"Sit down, Gumball," Ms. Simian ordered.

"But Ms. Simian- I know who put those kick me signs behind your back and covered my desk in banana peels!"

"Oh?" Ms. Simian was a little curious, so she sat down in her chair and started to sip her coffee.

* * *

"The criminal," Gumball announced, in the detectivest voice he could muster, "...is Clayton!"

After a few gasps, Gumball continued.

"You see, Clayton originally turned into Banana Joe, removed the peel, turned back into himself, and repeated the process three hundred times. This is how he was able to create a nearly infinite supply of bananas. But- as he turned back into himself, he found that the bananas were turning back into Clayton's hue, which is why the bananas were red. Clayton also turned into Ms. Simian, and got the keys to this classroom before school opened so he would have time to stuff my desk full of bananas. Clayton later turned into Teri to do the same thing, only paper-wise. And thus, I, Gumball Watterson, have solved the case."

Usually this was the time when the crowd would cheer and go home. Or work on more math homework, in this case. But this time, everyone just stared at each other uneasily.

Even Ms. Simian was a little curious at this. The whole place was turning more and more awkward until

...the classmates heard a knock on the door.

* * *

"Very good, Gumball," Anais said, standing on Ms. Simian's desk.

"But you forgot one piece of evidence. The paper was always white. If Clayton had done it, the paper would have been red, right?"

The classmates shifted their eyes away from the rabbit. Some put on sunglasses to hide their facial expressions.

"...That lead me to think that it was a group project."

"But how do you know that, Anais?" Gumball asked.

"I have a video tape," Anais said, running over to the doorway and retrieving a video-camera.

"I planted this here just in case my suspicions were correct."

Gumball's classmates couldn't hold it anymore. As soon as Anais pressed the play button, Leslie cried,

"Okay! Stop! I'll admit everything! It was me!"

The crowd gasped a little, partly because they knew it wasn't only Leslie.

Anyway, Leslie explained.

"It was April Fool's, and I just happened to find a few rotten bananas in my flowerpot. So I wrote 'kick me' on all of them, and put one in everyone's desk. I also-"

"No- wait- it was me!"

Everyone switched their attention towards Carrie.

"I... stuck "kick me" signs on everybody when they weren't looking. I even stuck one on myself."

"Phbphh! Phbhhh! Qphhh!"

Everyone ignored Juke.

But slowly, each individual confessed to their own sins. Apparently, everyone had, ironically, framed Gumball accidentally.

* * *

"Wow," Ms. Simian said, inspecting each desk. They all were crammed full with banana peels and pieces of paper. She had just happened to inspect Gumball's desk first.

"I guess this means that I... actually made a mistake during my teaching career. Will you forgive me, Gumball?"

"Of course!" the blue cat cheered. "Does this mean I get recess privileges back?"

"No!" Ms. Simian screamed. "It just means that everyone gets math tests during recess!"

* * *

Now which is easier, asking an enraged baboon to reevaluate her stance on an issue, or blame Gumball?

The class certainly knew.


End file.
